Soldiers found no evidence gunmen fired on Blackwater

[Ack-Ack]

Preliminary reports indicate that the Blackwater guards didn't come under fire on Sept. 16 like they claimed.  It also appears that most Iraqis that were killed were trying to flee the area.

Lt. Col. Mike Tarsa commands the 3rd Battalion, 92nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. His unit conducts patrols in the Nusoor Square neighborhood of Baghdad, the U.S. military source told CNN.

The unit was first to arrive at the scene, and soldiers took witness statements, photographs, and made assessments.

The source confirmed remarks made by Tarsa that were reported Friday in The Washington Post.

"It appeared to me they were fleeing the scene when they were engaged. It had every indication of an excessive shooting," Tarsa is quoted as saying.

"I did not see anything that indicated they [Blackwater guards] were fired upon."

Article


ack-ack

[Apers]

Originally posted by Ack-Ack
"I did not see anything that indicated they [Blackwater guards] were fired upon."[/B]

doesn't mean they weren't.

[john9001]

jump on it ack ack, americans are infidles, ally ackbaa.  geeehadd

[AquaShrimp]

John's post is indicative of most of the pro-war folks on this board; it doesn't make much sense and its spelled horribly wrong.

Now for something more productive.  Counter-insurgency operations have been called 'the graduate school' of war.  In order to win a counter-insurgency, you not only have to have soldiers who are proficient in all manner of conventional fighting, but on top of that, they have to have extra skills.  Skills that will enable them to earn the trust of the native population, so that they can then collect accurate intelligence and also deny the insurgents the support of that same population.

The absolute fundamental requirement for gaining the trust of the native population is to protect them.  Protect them.  If we kill insurgents and civilians alike, it becomes a never ending cycle.  Civilian deaths in the very least deny U.S. troops of accurate intelligence, and in the worst case scenario, cause citizens to become insurgents.

[Toad]

The whole private contractor guard thing is political.

They are there because early on we didn't put enough troops in. They continued because using them provided political cover for the troop level issues.

By now it must be clear that it would have been way cheaper to have enough soldiers to do the job. There'd be more control over the situation with soldiers as well.

[BBBB]

Ack-Ack, The one thing you have to understand is when a US Soldier goes into a town in Iraq and starts asking questions, nobody sees anything, nothing happens there and everyone is innocent. Even though that unit has been ambushed there more than once, IEDs go off there all the time and they are always finding weapon and ammo stores.

 It is very frustrating to conduct an interview in Iraq. The Iraqis always have a sad tale to tell, how Americans bombed their home, shot their son or kicked in their door. Meanwhile they allow insurgents to use their land to train on, to hide weapons on and help with the planting of IEDs, by supplying old cars and other items.

 So it doesn't surprise me that an "investigation team" found nothing, and/or were told Blackwater started it and that all the Iraqi people were just trying to run away.

 I am not saying Blackwater is innocent. For the most part they are a bunch of *******es. However, what ever happened out there on those streets is most likely lost to history. All we can do now is keep a closer eye on Blackwater and see what unfolds.


-Spot

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by john9001
jump on it ack ack, americans are infidles, ally ackbaa.  geeehadd

LMAO!  And you wonder why I think you're such a tool.


ack-ack

[john9001]

i'm a "tool"?  How much does al quida pay you?

[Yeager]

Ive had this impression for the last few years that exceptionally bad things happen to good people in Baghdad.  I would not presume to claim that any western security men in Iraq are innocent of being overly aggressive in terms of securing their own lives (I would certainly tend to be overly aggressive with my own safety if I found myself in baghdad), but I sure as hell wouldn't conclude that these security types were proved guilty simply by the absence of proof of threat either.   Thats just twisted.

There definately is a sour group of people on this board hell bent on promoting Iraqi failure stories out of some twisted desire to counter the success stories coming out of Iraq........hmmm.

[Stringer]

Originally posted by john9001
i'm a "tool"?  How much does al quida pay you?

OK...now you're a "power tool"...

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by john9001
i'm a "tool"?  How much does al quida pay you?

You really should stop posting.  All you do is further prove how much of an idiot you are with each post.


ack-ack

[straffo]

Originally posted by john9001
i'm a "tool"?  How much does al quida pay you?

a tool has some use,you've none.

[Stringer]

Originally posted by Yeager
Ive had this impression for the last few years that exceptionally bad things happen to good people in Baghdad.  I would not presume to claim that any western security men in Iraq are innocent of being overly aggressive in terms of securing their own lives (I would certainly tend to be overly aggressive with my own safety if I found myself in baghdad), but I sure as hell wouldn't conclude that these security types were proved guilty simply by the absence of proof of threat either.   Thats just twisted.

There definately is a sour group of people on this board hell bent on promoting Iraqi failure stories out of some twisted desire to counter the success stories coming out of Iraq........hmmm.

Just some poor volunteer well-intentioned young people???  is that how you're trying to depict these mercenaries??

They were shooting at anything that moved...including away from them....they did not identify and shoot at threats...

[GtoRA2]

Originally posted by Ack-Ack
You really should stop posting.  All you do is further prove how much of an idiot you are with each post.


ack-ack

Aint that the truth.

[Yeager]

"It appeared to me they were fleeing the scene when they were engaged. It had every indication of an excessive shooting," Tarsa is quoted as saying.
====
If I were in bad guy country and in fear of losing my life I would be using excessive force as I fled to safety to preserve my life.  But thats just me

"I did not see anything that indicated they [Blackwater guards] were fired upon."
====
No indication of a threat at some later point after the threat stopped does not mean that a threat did not exist or take place.